Ukraine Could Lose Kiev To Russia, Says Former French General
The imbalance between the Russian and Ukrainian militaries will deepen and may even lead to the fall of Kyiv, believes Dominique Delawarde, a retired French army general.
“Russia is certainly continuing to recruit more troops, at a rate of about 1,000 per day, which is more than it is losing on the battlefield. That is why it is becoming stronger,” Delawarde said.
At the same time, he said that Ukraine is losing more soldiers on the front line than it is able to recruit. “Since they have repeatedly mobilized their forces, they are increasingly short of reserves,” he argued.
According to him, “the visible imbalance between Russian and Ukrainian troops will deepen and may even lead to the fall of Kyiv.” As he emphasized, Russia has not yet used its full potential in the war against Ukraine.
In the opinion of the French general, time is on Moscow’s side, and not only in terms of the military aspect.
In his opinion, Russia is in no hurry to achieve peace, further weakening Kyiv’s NATO allies, who “have pumped colossal amounts of money into the bottomless pit of Ukraine, while at the same time leading to financial ruin and falling into economic chaos.”
However, as the war in Ukraine has shown, the war is not purely a matter of who has the larger army and more soldiers.
Ukraine has leaned heavily upon drones to wage its battles and has other advantages in terms of intelligence, communications, and certain weapons made available through its Western partners.
Nevertheless, a lack of recruits has severely harmed Ukraine’s war efforts.
“Europe’s economic weakness will ultimately benefit Russia,” Delawarde said, as quoted on Wednesday, April 16, by the Russian news agency TASS.
On the same day, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine extended martial law and general military mobilization for 90 days – until August 6, 2025.
This is the fifteenth such decision of the Ukrainian parliament since the beginning of the full-scale war.
Most analysts do not believe Russia has the resources to take Kyiv, as evidenced by the slow pace of Russia’s progress in retaking even a small share of the country’s territory in the east. However, if Ukraine were to lose military support from the West, then Putin may be able to do so.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing since February 24, 2022, and has turned into the largest armed conflict in Europe since the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945.
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